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CSCE world sugar ends tightly mixed, nearbys lower

NEW YORK: CSCE world sugar settled narrowly mixed and in the middle of the session's range Tuesday, as a spate of local and trade short covering late in the day lifted prices near unchanged, traders said.

Speculative selling early on pressured the market, driving the most-active May contract to its lowest level since March 1, dealers said, but steady scale-down buying by the trade pared losses.

Most-active May sugar ended 0.01 cent a lb weaker at 11.54 cents, after ranging between 11.63 and 11.43 cents. July closed 0.02 weaker at 10.90 cents, while the remaining months settled 0.02 firmer to 0.01 weaker.

Traders said speculative selling of the closely watched May/July spread narrowed May's premium to July to 0.59 cent a lb early on, but trade buying of the spread kept it from collapsing completely. The May/July spread held, ending at 0.64 cent versus 0.63 cent at the close Monday.

Volume reached an estimated 26,481 lots.-Reuter